Media Framing of South Korea: A Content Analysis of Two Leading Chinese Newspapers, 1992-2017

Abstract

Since the establishment of full diplomatic ties in 1992, China-South Korea relations have developed dramatically. Though the two societies interact more closely, the mutual perceptions between people and the degree of goodwill are much lower than expected. To have a clear understanding of the cognitive problems between China and South Korea, this study intended to analyze Chinese perceptions of South Korea from the aspect of news media.

This study explored the presentation of South Koreas national image in two leading Chinese news media, the Peoples Daily (Renmin Ribao) and the Global Times (Huanqiu Shibao). Media framing theory was drawn as the analytic framework for research questions. This study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Chinese news coverage of South Korea from August 24th, 1992 to August 24th, 2017. The 25-year period was chosen according to two significant events between China and South Korea: the Sino-South Korean normalization in 1992 and the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties overshadowed by THAAD issue in 2017. This study attempted to examine the extent to which Chinese news media framed South Korea and which frame, if any, would be the most prevalent.

This study found that the Peoples Daily and the Global Times had some variances in the framing orientation when reporting different issues areas. While the Peoples Daily had more positive coverage of South Korea through the thematic and cooperation frames, the Global Times carried a more substantial proportion of the unfavorable news articles, which were mainly framed by the episodic and confrontation frames. By looking at the political, economic, cultural, social and international images of South Korea, there were three main factors affecting what frame to be used in the news coverage: Chinese foreign policy, the commercialization of media and the relative freedom in the area of international news coverage, and the self-justification of the communist regime. When Chinese news media shaped and framed the image of South Korea, they concerned and mirrored the political, economic, cultural and social structures of China.

Keywords: South Korea, China, National Image, Media Framing